On Tuesday, Dallas activated Eduardo Najera and Evan Eschmeyer and placed
Popeye Jones (sprained right ankle) and Avery Johnson (right calf strain)
on IR.
Dallas (38-10) at Minnesota (29-20) (February 11)
The game stayed close early in the 1st quarter with Dallas looking really
sluggish. A 3-pointer by Wally Szczerbiak gave Minnesota a 19-12 lead with
7 minutes left. A 3-pointer by Nick Van Exel pulled Dallas within 21-25
with 3 minutes to go, but Minnesota rattled off the next 9 points to go up
34-21 with a minute remaining as Dallas committed 4 straight turnovers.
Minnesota led 34-23 after 1. Kevin Garnett had 11 points and Dirk Nowitzki
had 12 points (all in the first 6 minutes of the game). Adrian Griffin
scored the first bucket of the 2nd quarter, but that was the last
single-digit deficit Dallas would see for the rest of the quarter as
Minnesota scored the next 8 points to go up 42-25 with 7:40 left. A
3-pointer by Szczerbiak gave Minnesota their largest lead at 55-36 with 2:35
left. Steve Nash got a bucket as the quarter ended and Minnesota led 58-41
at the half. Minnesota led 64-47 with 9:20 remaining when Dallas finally
realized that the All-Star break had ended and the Mavs went on a 12-2 run
to pull within 59-66 with 5:40 left - all 12 points came from 3-pointers.
Minnesota scored the next 5 points and another 3-pointer by Dirk Nowitzki
snapped that streak and Minnesota led 71-62 with 4 minutes left. After a
bucket by Szczerbiak, Dallas had a free throw, a jumper, and a 3-pointer to
pull within 68-73 with 1:25 to go. Van Exel drove for a funky flip shot at
the buzzer and Dallas trailed by just 73-77 after 3. Dallas shot 7-10
3-pointers in the quarter - 4 by Michael Finley and 3 by Nowitzki. Finley
had 16 points in the quarter, after going scoreless in the 1st half.
Dallas' hot shooting in the 3rd quarter and Minnesota's poor play meant for
an exciting finish. Minnesota was clinging to a single-digit lead for the
first half of the 4th quarter and led 88-83 with 6 minutes to go. Dallas
scored the next 6 points to take their first lead since 3 minutes into the
game and led 89-88 with 5 minutes left. A layup by Raef LaFrentz and
technical free throw by Nash continued Dallas' run and the Mavs led 92-88
with 4:15 remaining. Nash got called for an offensive foul when he stepped
through a double-team and got called for a technical (seemed to be a makeup
technical). Troy Hudson hit the free throw and added a jumper with 4
minutes remaining. A jumper by Szczerbiak put Minnesota briefly back on
top, but Nowitzki answered with a jumper and Dallas led 94-93 with 3:20 to
go. Neither team scored over the next minute (including 2 missed free
throws by Van Exel). Nowitzki found LaFrentz inside for the dunk and a
3-point lead for Dallas with 2:10 left. Garnett and Nowitzki traded jumpers
and Dallas led 98-95 with 1:30 to go. Garnett got 2 inside and was fouled.
He converted the 3-point play to tie the game at 98-98 with 1:17 left.
Eduardo Najera got called for the offensive foul, but Minnesota turned the
ball over. Van Exel missed with 36 seconds left and Minnesota called
timeout. Garnett missed with 17 seconds left and Nash rebounded and pushed
the ball up and Finley got the ball behind the arc and found himself open
and couldn't resist taking the shot despite there still being 9 seconds
left on the clock. He missed and Minnesota rebounded and called timeout.
Najera stripped the ball from Garnett inside and it was Minnesota's ball out
of bounds with 1.6 seconds left. Minnesota used their last timeout to set
up a play. Minnesota inbounded the ball to Szczerbiak in the corner behind
a screen and he drained the long jumper and the buzzer sounded. Minnesota
won 100-98.
As exciting as a finish it was, it really was an ugly game. Dallas did not
play well in the 1st half and Minnesota did not play well in the 2nd half.
Neither team really deserved to win, but Minnesota managed to get the
victory with a buzzer beater. And there was some question if it really was
a buzzer beater - it definitely got off on time, but it looked like there
should still be a fraction of a second left after the shot went through (I
thought this even before seeing the replay). The shot was automatically
reviewed and even though the review process is technically not for seeing if
time should be put back on the clock, the refs do have the discretion to
fix time issues [they did so in a Mavs game early this season after a review
at the end of a quarter (1st or 3rd), they put time back on the clock and
brought both teams back out]. But with as poor of a job as the refs did
(more on that later), it didn't surprise me that they did not correct this
error (.3 seconds should have been put on the clock). Despite that, the
Mavs have no one to look at but themselves for this loss. It's amazing that
they had a chance at a win with as poorly as they played in the 1st half.
Add to that getting out-rebounded 50-33 including having just 6 offensive
rebounds and missing 6 free throws including 4 in the 4th quarter and Dallas
simply did not deserve a win. Minnesota helped Dallas' cause by missing 7
free throws and committing 21 turnovers. But someone has to win and
Minnesota gets the W.
Kevin Garnett is one of the best players in the league and had a great game,
even though he did show some signs of fatigue after playing heavy minutes in
the All-Star game. He had 26 points on 10-26 FG and 6-10 FT, 12 rebounds,
and 7 assists. Eduardo Najera was the only Mav who was effective in
guarding Garnett - and Garnett should have picked up a T after shoving
Najera after a whistle was blown (he did get a T later in the game for
expressing frustration with Najera's defense). Wally Szczerbiak had the
game winner and a solid game with 21 points including 8-11 FG and 3-4
3-pointers and 8 rebounds. Radoslav Nesterovic had 15 points including 6-8
FG, 9 rebounds including 4 offensive, and 3 blocks. Anthony Peeler had 10
points and 8 rebounds and Troy Hudson had 7 points including 1-9 FG and 12
assists.
Dirk Nowitzki led the way for Dallas with 34 points including 6-8 3-pointers
and 7 rebounds. Michael Finley was scoreless in the 1st half, but finished
with 21 points including 4-8 3-pointers and 6 assists. As much criticism he
deserved (and got) in taking the quick 3 instead of holding the ball for the
final shot, realize he was also the reason Dallas got back in the game with
his stellar 3rd quarter performance. Steve Nash was the only other Mav in
double-digits with 14 points. He also had 8 assists. Raef LaFrentz had 9
points including 4-5 FG and 4 rebounds before fouling out in 16 minutes.
Shawn Bradley did not provide any help with just 2 points and 2 rebounds in
15 minutes. Instead, Don Nelson looked to the return Eduardo Najera and
Evan Eschmeyer. Najera had 3 points, 4 rebounds, and good defense in 11
minutes and Eschmeyer had 3 offensive rebounds and some hustle in 10
minutes - he did miss his 3 field goals attempted, though. Nick Van Exel
had 9 points on 4-11 FG and 0-3 FT, 5 assists, and 3 steals.
The refs were inconsistent throughout. I thought they were terribly
lopsided in the 1st half - the calls they made against the Mavs were mostly
legit, but they weren't calling the same things on the other end (added to
the Mavs' poor play, it made it even more frustrating to watch). And who
knew when they were going to call something a foul or let it go in the 2nd
half (either team). Sometimes they'd let a lot of banging go on, sometimes
they'd call it, sometimes they'd call a ticky-tack, and sometimes they'd
call something that wasn't a foul (see Nash stepping through a
double-team and getting called for an offensive foul [and then picking up a
make-up technical]). And I thought the refs had gotten away from waiting
to see if the ball went in or not before the whistle was blown - there was
a blatant whistle blown after the ball bounced off the rim in this game
[it was a Minnesota shot, so I'm not just complaining about when it happens
to the Mavs].
Quotes
Flip Saunders: "We've played 2 extremely good games against these guys.
More than anything else, we persevered. They started knocking down 3s.
They knock down 3s, we knock down 2s, and they catch up 7 points in about
a minute and a half. The way they play, they want to put pressure on you
by scoring. Knowing that if they get it with 2 seconds, they've still
got enough weapons to get another good shot at it."
Saunders: "They just keep coming at you. If one person doesn't work, they
throw someone else out there and they keep running at you. They're
shooting 3s all over the place. They can come back in a hurry, and they
play with a great amount of confidence. They're probably as frustrating a
team as there is in the league to prepare to play. They have so many
weapons and do so many things offensively. Your guys have to be really
prepared and locked in. You have to change what you're doing. You can't
do the same thing for 48 minutes, because they're too good."
Saunders: "We hung in there and made some big shots and big plays. We
out-rebounded them 50-33, so we pummeled them on the boards. Some guys
exerted an extreme amount of energy. Even though Troy was 1-9, he had 12
assists. It was a big win."
Saunders on the last play: "The last time we called this play was when
Googs [Tom Gugliotta] hit a winner against Houston about 5 or 6 years ago.
We call the play 'New York'. It seems like it's only fitting that 2 guys
from New York make the shot. The play was designed for a back-screen and
to KG at the basket. If they switch, you'd have 1 or 2 guys off a
mismatch - and maybe you'd have Wally if he pops open to get a good look.
Wally set a good screen, Kevin made a good cut, and AP had a good read."
Saunders: "AP went through a stretch where he wasn't shooting the ball
well. I told him that if he wanted to stay on the floor, he had to do
other things like defense. That would keep him on the floor as much as
anything else. I think he made a conscious effort, kept his aggressiveness
and has responded with some solid defense."
Saunders: "Rasho had a great 1st quarter and 1st half. He struggled a
little bit in the 3rd quarter when the game got aggressive. Rasho was
winded a little bit, but I thought Gary had a good game, and momentum-wise
that's why he was in there. They were also going very small at that time.
I knew I was going to play Rasho down the stretch, and I knew at that point
KG wasn't going to come out. So I wanted to have one of those 2 guys that
was pretty rested the last 2 or 3 minutes."
Kevin Garnett: "To start the 2nd half of the season off, I thought it was
very important for everybody to take this game with a sense of urgency,
knowing that this can make or break us. I felt like this game was a game
that, if we were to win it, it would give us some momentum. We won.
Obviously the confidence level is high right now, but the thing for us
right now is being consistent. So far, so good. We've got to carry this
over to Cleveland tomorrow, and try to gain some momentum."
Garnett: "I told AP, along with Wally, that I'm going to go so hard that
either I'm going to be open or you're going to be open. AP had the 5
second count in his head. I ran off really hard, and they all swamped to
me and they left Wally open - and that's automatic. I'm happy for Wally."
Wally Szczerbiak: "It was a nice cap to a nice win for us. It was big to
come off the break and keep the ball rolling. We played very well, and we
didn't miss a beat. Dallas is a good team. They made a big run, but we
withstood and we were able to come away with a victory. I think we can
learn a lot from this game and build from this game. It was nice to win
as a team. The team's working really hard, and hopefully we can keep it
up."
Szczerbiak: "It would be nice if we got into a little more of a flow for
some guys. But KG has been playing so well, you've got to exhaust his
options - and it's been successful for us. I just wish we'd make his job
a little easier by maybe running a little more motion, then - when we get
him the ball in the post - have guys moving, have guys cutting, so the team
can't really key on him. If we utilize some of the strengths of the other
guys, we can make his life a little easier - especially in the 4th quarter.
They were beating the living you-know-what out of him down there, and he
couldn't get a call. But he still made huge plays down the stretch."
Szczerbiak: "It was a well designed play. I was hoping Flip wasn't going
to design a play that they knew and that we had run before. We haven't run
that play all year. That's a play he pulled out of his back pocket. It
was designed for Kevin to go for a lob from the corner, and for me to get a
screen. And then if they switched or did something, someone would be open.
I just said to myself that there's 1.6 seconds left, and they're not
calling an offensive foul. So I literally nailed Najera in the back. I
just clobbered him, and they were forced to make a decision. They
switched, and I was able to get a little bit of a look. I kind of lost the
ball as it was going up, but I guess fate just took over."
Szczerbiak on Finley's quick 3-point attempt: "I can't imagine what our
coaches would have done if one of us took a shot like that. Oh, boy. Oh,
man. You've got a chance to get the last one, and you take a shot like
that with 9 seconds left? But you know, that's the way they play. They're
always going to be aggressive."
Szczerbiak on if there was time left after his shot: "You never know with
Dick Bavetta; you never know what that guy's thinking. But they reviewed
it, and maybe I did leave them a little bit of time. But that would have
been rough if we would have had to [continue play] after a celebration
like that. But luckily, we were able to just walk away from the victory."
Anthony Peeler on his inbounds to Szczerbiak: "I was just trying not to be
nervous. You try to look calm, but at the same time, you feel a little
nervous because you've got the ball in your hands and no more timeouts. I
just made sure I looked toward KG - I knew everybody would go toward KG
like a wide receiver. Wally set a great pick and he was wide open. And
that's a shot Wally always makes."
Don Nelson on the slow start: "We made several mistakes, and that was the
first one. It takes a lot out of you to come back like that. We missed
some free throws and we usually don't do that. And there were a couple of
bad calls, especially on the Eddie charge. Then not being smart on the
last play. When you make errors like that, you just have to learn from
them."
Nelson on Finley's quick 3-pointer: "Mike just walked into that 3. That's
not the time to do that. At the least, we would have missed and then we
would have had the end of regulation and gone into overtime. We need to
go through situations like that over and over. We definitely wanted to
call timeout. We wanted to look for an easy shot or a layup. We made a
bad decision. Even if we made that shot, they have a chance to tie it.
I'd like to have a radio headset to communicate with them during the game,
but you can't. Finley feels bad about the situation. You just have to
deal with it and go on."
Nelson: "There were a lot of positives to take from the game. The way we
hung in there, I'm proud of the team for that. Eschmeyer and Najera
looked good. Those are positives for us. We're a different team when
Eddie's out there. I was worried that if they weren't in shape, it could
cost us the game. That definitely wasn't the case. They played great,
considering they haven't played in half a year."
Michael Finley on his quick 3 attempt: "Basically, I just wasn't thinking
out there."
Finley on his quick 3 attempt: "It was a stupid ... [bleep] play. I just
wasn't thinking. I thought there was less time on the clock. But coach
wanted us to get the last shot."
Finley when asked about there possibly being time left after Szczerbiak's
shot: "It should have never gotten to that anyway."
Dirk Nowitzki: "It was more what we didn't do in the 1st half. They played
much better than we did in the 1st half. It's important to win games
against good Western Conference teams. It's nice that we can beat
Cleveland twice, but we need to beat the good teams in our conference.
From here on out, we just need to worry about our game and play the way we
know how to play."
Nowitzki: "You have to fight through questionable calls. That happens on
the road. We just weren't smart at the end. That was the difference."
Nowitzki on the return of Najera and Eschmeyer: "Eddie is probably our
toughest defender, and Esch's hustle game is great. We really lacked both
of those things in the 1st half of the season."
Steve Nash: "They played a lot better than us for a long time. We fought
back, but didn't get any bounces down the stretch. You can't fall behind
that far and expect to win. We felt terrible about the way we played in
the 1st half. It was our lack of effort, our lack of smarts. But we
decided if we were going to lose, we were going to go down fighting."
Nash: "We made so many mistakes that we can't walk out of here feeling
like we were totally cheated. Mike was the reason we were back in the
game. We all make mistakes."
Eduardo Najera: "I feel terrible because we lost. The knee felt fine, but
we'll see how it is tomorrow."
Najera on not getting through the screen to Szczerbiak on the last shot:
"We had some mistakes, including that one. I just didn't get there and it
cost us the game."
Minnesota Timberwolves 100, Dallas Mavericks 98 at Minnesota (February 11)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
Minnesota 34 24 19 23 - 100 .524 .313 .481 .731
Dallas 23 18 32 25 - 98 .404 .520 .439 .684
Halftime: Minnesota 58-41
3rd Q: Minnesota 77-73
Technicals: Jackson 9:10 2nd, Nowitzki 9:10 2nd, Minnesota
defensive 3 seconds 2:12 2nd, Garnett 4:39 3rd, Trent 6:01
4th, Szczerbiak 4:16 4th, Nash 4:07 4th
Refs: Dick Bavetta, Michael Smith, Scott Foster
Attendance: 15,145 (cap 19,006)
Did not play due to injury: Joe Smith (sprained right ankle), Rod
Strickland (strained left groin)
Minnesota Timberwolves REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Wally Szczerbiak 36 8-11 3-4 2-2 21 2-8 3 3 4 1 1
Kevin Garnett 44 10-26 0-0 6-10 26 3-12 7 4 1 1 1
Radoslav Nesterovic 34 6-8 0-0 3-4 15 4-9 1 2 3 0 3
Anthony Peeler 35 4-9 2-5 0-0 10 0-8 3 1 4 1 0
Troy Hudson 38 1-9 0-4 5-5 7 1-4 12 4 3 0 0
Kendall Gill 19 4-7 0-1 0-1 8 1-5 1 3 4 0 0
Igor Rakocevic 10 0-1 0-1 2-2 2 0-0 1 0 1 0 0
Marc Jackson 7 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 1 0 1 0
Gary Trent 17 4-7 0-1 1-2 9 1-4 1 1 2 0 0
Totals 48 38-79 5-16 19-26 100 12-50 29 21 22 4 5
Dallas Mavericks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Raja Bell 15 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0-2 0 1 0 1 0
Dirk Nowitzki 43 11-21 6-8 6-7 34 1-7 3 3 2 2 1
Raef LaFrentz 16 4-5 1-2 0-0 9 0-4 0 0 6 1 0
Michael Finley 41 7-19 4-8 3-3 21 0-4 6 2 2 0 0
Steve Nash 34 5-12 1-2 3-4 14 1-4 8 3 2 2 0
Shawn Bradley 15 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0-2 1 1 1 1 1
Nick Van_Exel 31 4-11 1-4 0-3 9 0-2 5 3 0 3 0
Walt Williams 9 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 3 0 0
Adrian Griffin 10 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 0-0 0 0 0 0 1
Eduardo Najera 11 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 1-4 1 1 4 0 0
Evan Eschmeyer 10 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 3-3 3 0 4 0 1
Antoine Rigaudeau 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 48 36-82 13-25 13-19 98 6-33 27 14 24 10 4
Dallas (38-11) at Milwaukee (25-23) (February 12)
It looked to be an exciting game as both teams started shooting well and not
much defense was going on. The game stayed close as there were 5 ties and 7
lead changes and neither team led by more than 4 points. Dallas led 28-26
after 1. The only things that weren't falling were free throws as Dallas
shot 4-9 and Minnesota shot 4-7. 2 free throws by Nick Van Exel and a
3-pointer by Walt Williams opened the 2nd quarter and Dallas led 33-26 with
11:15 to go. Dallas led 41-32 with 6:45 remaining and Milwaukee went on a
12-2 run to go up 44-43 with 3:50 left. Their lead was brief, however, as
Michael Finley hit a jumper and 3-pointer to put Dallas back on top. Dallas
held a low single-digit lead the rest of the quarter. Kevin Ollie hit a
runner at the quarter buzzer. Dallas led 56-55 at the half. The shootout
continued in the 3rd quarter (still with little defense from either team)
and Dallas holding on to a single-digit lead. 3 consecutive 3-pointers by
the Mavs gave Dallas an 81-70 lead with 4 minutes left. Dallas led 83-72
with 3:50 left and Milwaukee went on a 16-3 run that including 4 3-pointers
to go up 88-86 with 25 seconds to go. Michael Finley hit a jump hook as the
quarter ended and it was all tied up at 88-88 after 3. It was all tied up
at 96-96 with 8:15 remaining and Milwaukee went on a 14-4 run that included
3 3-pointers to go up 110-100 with 5:15 to go. Dallas responded with a 10-2
run to pull within 110-112 with 2:25 left and we had another exciting finish
in store. Toni Kukoc hit 1 of 2 free throws and got a layup and Milwaukee
led 115-110 with 1:30 left. A jumper by Steve Nash, a Milwaukee turnover,
and a driving layup by Van Exel pulled Dallas within 114-115 with 50 seconds
to go. Sam Cassell nailed a jumper with 25 seconds left to put Milwaukee up
by 3. Nash missed the long 3-pointer (2 feet behind the line), Finley got
the long rebound, but his 3-point attempt clanked short and Milwaukee
rebounded with 10 seconds left. Sam Cassell hit 1-2 free throws and Dirk
Nowitzki missed a 3-point attempt with 6 seconds left. Milwaukee rebounded
and Tim Thomas got a meaningless bucket to cap the scoring. Milwaukee won
120-114.
It is not often that you see Dallas get beat at their own game, but it was
the case this night. Milwaukee simply out-gunned Dallas. Where Dallas'
3-point barrage in the 3rd quarter normally would have been the killing
punch, Milwaukee came back with a barrage of their own. Milwaukee shot
53.7% FG including 12-29 3-pointers and Dallas shot 49.5% FG including 8-24
3-pointers. Dallas also again hurt themselves with what is normally their
strength - free throws. Dallas is by far the best free throw shooting team
in the league, yet they only shot 10-17 FT. Milwaukee made it to the line
more and shot 20-27 FT. Neither team played much defense and both were
unable to stop the other team. On the plus side for Dallas, the team
finally out-rebounded an opponent. Dallas had gone 11 straight games being
out-rebounded. Dallas out-rebounded Milwaukee 43-42 and had 14 offensive
rebounds. Milwaukee beat Dallas in both games this season, becoming the
first team to sweep the season series (Sacramento has also beaten Dallas
twice). [Although the pundits are pointing out that Dallas is 7-7 in the
last 14 games, it doesn't look quite as bad when you break it down further
and realize that the string includes Dallas' only multi-game losing streaks
of the season: 0-3, 7-1, 0-3.]
Ray Allen led the way for Milwaukee with a solid all-around game. He had 28
points including 5-12 3-pointers, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists. Tim Thomas had
27 points including 11-18 FG and 3-6 3-pointers and 7 rebounds. Sam Cassell
had 15 points and 9 assists. Anthony Mason chipped in 14 points including
6-6 FG and 5 rebounds and Toni Kukoc had 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 5
assists.
Also a rarity for Dallas, the team lost with all of the big 3 having good
games. Which means that they didn't get much help. Dirk Nowitzki had 27
points and 12 rebounds. Steve Nash had 26 points including 4-7 3-pointers
and 10 assists. Michael Finley had 25 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.
Raef LaFrentz was the only other Mav in double-digits. LaFrentz had 10
points and 8 rebounds including 5 offensive. Nick Van Exel had 9 points.
Quotes
George Karl: "We did a great job. You have to make up the personality of
the team you are playing. Both are explosive offensive teams and it was a
big win for us. Tonight in the 2nd half, we started to pass the ball.
Any time we start to do that we can be a very good basketball team."
Karl on the 3-point barrage: "Ray got into a groove, Toni threw some down,
Tim had one, Michael Redd had one, and it's one of those explosive things
that just happen. There were about 53 3's taken. I thought there would
be a lot taken, but that's a lot. We got a 10 point lead. We didn't do a
good job passing the ball until the last 2 minutes."
Ray Allen: "I have to confess that over the last few days I've watched
tape from when we were in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Sometimes you
need to do that to remember how it can be. We've had a lot of mishaps on
this floor but this was a big win. When you come to this building and you
have an atmosphere like we had tonight it's fun to play. If we continue
to improve we can make this one of the most difficult places to play in
the league again."
Allen: "I don't think Dallas is used to teams putting up points like we
did tonight. They have a lot of weapons. Dirk is so tough to guard
because he's big and can shoot. Tonight we went to our big guy who could
shoot in Toni Kukoc. Toni gave us a big spark in the 2nd half from the
3-point line."
Allen: "As deadly as they are shooting the basketball, running up and down
in transition basketball scoring points, we're just as deadly. With Timmy
playing well and us playing the penetration game, we can get any of the
shots we want out there."
Allen: "Timmy set the tone for us tonight. He did a great job of
penetrating early. I told the guys at halftime that we had 14 assists in
the 1st half and that if we came out and put up 14 more in the 2nd we'd
win the game. This was a great win for us coming back from the break.
Now we need to keep this momentum."
Sam Cassell: "It was a solid win for us at home tonight. We gave
ourselves a chance in the 4th quarter to win the ball game and we got the
W. We kept our heads up in the 3rd quarter when they jumped out to that
lead. Tonight we moved the ball and hit shots, it's as simple as that."
Cassell: "We scored a bunch of points tonight against a team that likes to
score. Now we have to play a Detroit team that likes to play defenses and
slow the game down. We just need to go out and concentrate on the things
that make this team successful, passing the ball and playing solid
defense."
Don Nelson: "I liked our performance tonight. I wish we had guarded a
little better, but we competed the entire game. There was a lot of good
basketball, I have no complaints about my team."
Nelson: "They can shoot the 3s and so can we. We made them earlier in
the game. They made them at the end of the game."
Nelson on Milwaukee beating Dallas twice: "I don't think anyone beat us
twice in a year last year. It has been a while since that happened."
Nelson: "It is hard to get a win on the road, especially in back-to-back
games. But we have to play them; everybody has to play them."
Nelson: "We did a good job on guarding Michael Redd, but the other guys
still scored a lot. That says something about the quality of their
players."
Finley when asked if he was fouled on his last 3-point attempt:
"Definitely. I don't think in that situation I'm going to shoot the ball
short. Maybe long, maybe off to the side, but not short. Something had
to happen."
Steve Nash: "They played great and we should have played better defense.
We just didn't play well. We have a resilient group of guys, we need to
continue to work hard and play 48 minutes."
Nash: "We haven't played very well the last couple games. They're a good
offensive team, but you have to do better than giving up 120 points."
Nash: "It's a tough time for us. But maybe that's good. Winning every
game can be misleading. I think it has been at times this season."
Dirk Nowitzki: "It didn't matter if we played man-to-man or zone, they
still scored. We scored enough to win, but it is hard to beat 120 points.
It was a tough game for us."
Nowitzki: "Our defense was brutal. We couldn't stop them in our
man-to-man and we couldn't stop them in our zone. We scored enough to
win."
Nowitzki: "I haven't seen them shoot the ball that well before. It was
amazing. It didn't matter what we did."
Nowitzki on back-to-back games: "It is tough, but we are a good team. We
have another back-to-back coming up, so we need to be ready for those
games."
Milwaukee Bucks 120, Dallas Mavericks 114 at Milwaukee (February 12)
1st 2nd 3rd 4th - Final 2FG 3FG FG% FT%
Milwaukee 26 29 33 32 - 120 .604 .414 .537 .741
Dallas 28 28 32 26 - 114 .548 .333 .495 .588
Halftime: Dallas 56-55
3rd Q: 88-88
Technicals: Ray Allen 2:01 2nd
Refs: Joe Forte, Rodney Mott, Ron Olesiak
Attendance: 15,886 (cap. 18,717)
Milwaukee Bucks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Anthony Mason 33 6-6 0-0 2-3 14 2-5 2 1 3 1 0
Michael Redd 28 2-7 2-5 1-2 7 0-7 2 1 1 0 0
Tim Thomas 36 11-18 3-6 2-2 27 3-7 1 1 3 0 3
Ray Allen 42 10-23 5-12 3-3 28 3-9 7 3 2 0 0
Sam Cassell 31 6-10 0-0 3-4 15 0-2 9 1 2 0 0
Jason Caffey 23 1-3 0-0 5-8 7 0-2 1 4 5 0 0
Toni Kukoc 28 4-8 2-6 4-5 14 0-8 5 1 2 1 1
Kevin Ollie 17 4-7 0-0 0-0 8 0-1 4 0 1 0 0
Ervin Johnson 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 48 44-82 12-29 20-27 120 8-42 31 12 19 2 4
Dallas Mavericks REB
Player MIN FGM-FGA 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA PTS O-T AST TO PF STL BLK
Raja Bell 22 2-2 0-0 0-0 4 1-2 1 2 2 0 0
Dirk Nowitzki 36 13-23 0-3 1-2 27 0-12 3 2 4 2 1
Raef LaFrentz 22 5-9 0-1 0-0 10 5-8 1 0 4 0 1
Michael Finley 42 11-21 3-7 0-0 25 2-6 5 0 3 0 0
Steve Nash 29 10-21 4-7 2-2 26 1-1 10 0 4 0 0
Nick Van_Exel 31 3-8 0-2 3-4 9 1-4 2 0 4 0 0
Eduardo Najera 9 0-1 0-0 1-4 1 1-1 1 0 1 0 1
Adrian Griffin 16 1-3 0-0 1-1 3 0-3 0 0 2 0 0
Shawn Bradley 15 2-4 0-0 2-4 6 2-2 2 1 0 1 0
Walt Williams 13 1-5 1-4 0-0 3 0-2 1 0 0 1 0
Evan Eschmeyer 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1-2 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 48 48-97 8-24 10-17 114 14-43 26 5 24 4 3
patricia